


Hopper's Redemption

by steffers86



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 21:03:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9142126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steffers86/pseuds/steffers86
Summary: Hopper was giving up hope finding Eleven until one night...





	

Mornings…mornings were meant for catching up on sleep that I missed out on during my insomniac episodes. These episodes were an nightly event. Everything that happened with Will’s case was still haunting me on top of the ghosts that already occupied my mind for years.

It only got worse at night, alone to deal with my demons and regrets. Add alcohol and pills and then we have ourselves an interesting therapy session. Hell, it seemed like that was the only time I could tolerate being around myself anymore. I needed a way to redeem myself.

_Children’s drawings, plush tigers, friendship bracelets_ ; I missed my daughter. I knew she was gone at least from this current existence. There was nothing I could have done for her when she was alive. That was what pained me for years and ruined what little family I had left. I saved so many people being an officer, but I couldn’t save the one person that meant the world to me.

_Late night Eggo drop offs, blanket forts, dress up_ ; I sold Eleven out to save another child. An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind. I was blind at the time; consumed by my ignorance. Unlike my daughter’s situation, I feel like I could save her. Call it cop instinct. Call it paternal instinct. Call it whatever the hell you want; I felt Eleven’s presence still in those woods. I owed her everything.

Months of regret and nightly research after my regular policing duties was taking its toll on me. You would think that saving Will and becoming this “hero” which I still don’t think I was, would be satisfying enough.

The night was cold and bitter. I stayed squatted down in front of this makeshift hope in the form of a wooden box in the woods. Today was the day the voice of reason came into play. Maybe it wasn’t Eleven taking the food from the crate every night. Maybe it was an animal or something. I needed to stop getting excited over this crazy thought of false optimism. I haven’t had any signs other than the disappearance of food every night. Maybe this was just my reaction to my guilt and the loneliness. It certainly didn’t help assist with this affliction.

The wind tonight howled through the trees as the tree branches scratched against each other and the dusty snow swirled around the ground below. It was a pretty clear January night. Something about winter time; the stars shined brighter despite the frigidness. My eyes focused deeply on one star in particular as I found myself in a dream-like trance…my subconscious taking me some place else….

_**“Daddy, do wishes come true?”** _

_**“Yeah, if you believe in your wishes they always do,” I replied.** _

_**Her eyes averted to the sky above. I stared at her. Her complete innocence left me in awe. Sara gave me my faith that this world wasn’t as bad as it let on to be. There was still purity out there. Every moment with her made me a better person.** _

_**“That one,” she responded pointing up at the stars.** _

_**“That’s the north star. That’s the brightest star in the sky. When people would get lost, they’d use that as a direction to find their way home.”** _

_**“I want to go back home, daddy. I hate hospitals.”** _

_**My heart broke into a million pieces. If I only could, I would. I would in a heartbeat trade my baby places and let Sarah be at home with her mother. I was already on the edge of losing my job because of my constant absences from work. That was so far in the back of my mind. It’s like time wasn’t the case anymore; but then again it was; just ticking away.** _

_**She scrunched up her face, “I made a wish!”** _

_**“What did you wish for?”** _

_**“If I told you it wouldn’t come true,” she giggled.** _

_**She was a smart girl for her age…** _

_**Was…** _

“Sara,” I sighed coming back to reality.

I felt like I got the wind knocked out of me, defeated in every aspect of life in that instant. Sad rage built up in my heart. Kicking the box over, I shook my head in disappointment and made my trek back to the Blazer. My faith had dwindled down to nothing.

It started snowing again as intermittent cloud coverage dimmed the gleam from the stars and the moon. I started the ignition, the inside of the Blazer had gotten colder quicker than I expected for the short time I had been out here. My hands started tingling as I regained feeling in them. Homeward bound I went hoping to find some solace in a bottom of a bottle tonight. I sure as hell wasn’t finding it around here.

 I didn’t make it very far. The headlights on the old Blazer flickered. I swerved to the side of the road and parked the Blazer. It had to have been electrical. It wouldn’t surprise me that this vehicle would start having issues since I’ve been slacking on the maintenance.

“Piece of junk,” I muttered to myself.

Leaping out of the warmth of the Blazer the winter air breezed over me stinging like a billion needles. The temperature felt like it had plummeted. Not shocking as unpredictable as Indiana’s weather was.

I was about to pop the hood when I observed something odd. The lights were flickering in a pattern. Was this a coincidence? I stepped back away from the Blazer investigating this phenomenon. It was a distress signal; SOS. My mind instantly rehashed the time Will tried to communicate with Joyce through the Christmas lights.

“Hey, Callahan. I need you to run by and check on the Byer’s asap. Do you copy?” I fumbled with the CB radio.

“Uhhh whatever you say Chief. Over,” Callahan sounded confused.

Was it Eleven or did something happen to Will again? I felt my stomach go into knots. There was a high pitch scream that echoed through the woods. I drew my gun and rushed into the direction of the screams throwing caution to the wind. Snow crunched under my feet. I fumbled for my flashlight with numb fingers.

I saw a dark object flailing in the wind hooked up on a branch. Upon further investigation, I noticed it was my old blue flannel. It was the flannel I gave Eleven the last night we ever saw her. I gave it to her to keep her warm after her adventure in our homemade deprivation tank.

The tattered up flannel had fresh blood on the sleeves. I pointed my flashlight in the direction where new footprints appeared in the snow.

“Eleven!” I shouted; my voice reverberated through the treetops.

The footprints seemed to lead on for forever. I could hear multiple voices in the distance. I stopped in my tracks listening. I had company. I saw a shadow casted behind the tree in front of me. I kept my gun aimed. In that exact moment, my heart dropped.    

She stood there in her pink dress, a lot more tattered than I last remembered when were in each other’s company. She shielded her eyes with her forearm trying to get a glimpse of who I was past the glaring light of my Maglite. Her hair was a bit longer, and her cheeks were rosy red from the freezing arctic temperatures.

“Help,” she whimpered as fog from the chill air rolled from her mouth accompanied with panic in her voice.

I tore my jacket off wrapping it around her and lifted her into my arms. Her fragile body trembled violently against my chest. Voices nearby were fast approaching.

“Danger..,” she whispered.

She was too exhausted and cold to panic. I could see the urgency in her bloodshot eyes. I looped around the woods hoping not to run into whoever was out here with us. The cold was unforgiving this time of year. I stopped dead in my tracks as I slipped behind a large tree. There were a few of Brenner’s guys; I recognized them from our run-ins. They surrounded my Blazer studying it.

“I’ll get you some place warm. Everything will be alright. Stay put. I’ll take care of this,” I consoled her.

Elle squeezed my jacket around her small frame nodding her head. She instilled her trust in me despite our history. The given situation was the redemption we needed.

“Is there a problem here fellows?” I asked strutting up to the group of men keeping my hand close my by gun.

“Is there Chief?” the taller gentleman threw back.

I was outnumbered here three to one; shuffling through my shirt pocket; I pulled out a pack of smokes. The men circled me like vultures. I clicked the lighter’s striker wheel igniting a small flame as I lite my cigarette inhaling deeply. The poisoning taste of nicotine relaxed my nerves.

“Where’s your jacket at Chief? It’s kind of cold out here to be running around here without one.”

“Yeah, well, I had a disturbance call about some trespassers on private property out this way, so I didn’t have time to grab my coat,” I smirked.

“But you had time…to grab your hat,” retorted the taller gentlemen getting in my face and flicking the corner of my hat, “We didn’t hear anything on the CB radio about a disturbance call.”

I could feel my face scrunch up in immediate disgust. This guy was testing my patience. I could feel my fists growing into a punch. That would only cause things to escalate. I couldn’t risk that. Not with Elle depending on me to get her to a safe haven.

“It was my personal home phone. I am the one asking questions here. Are you all out here working?” I changed the subject.

“Remember the agreement you had? Don’t ask questions and stay out of our way,” the taller gentlemen grunted laying a finger on my chest with every word he spat.

I continued to stare down at my chest; my patience, if it even existed, it was rapidly diminishing.

“I’ll stay out of your way within reasons. I’m still the Chief of police in this town. Trespassing on private property will get you arrested around here.”

“Still not our agreement. You’re not arresting anybody tonight. We’ll be on our way. See you around….Chief,” the man in charge flicked my badge and chuckled.

He nodded at the rest of his group to follow his lead. Everyone entered the SUV except for him. I inhaled deeper on the cigarette, the mixture of the cold wind and cigarette smoke choked me up.

“You should probably think about stopping that…those kinds of habits….kill,” he said with sinister undertones as he sloped into the driver’s seat.

I eyeballed him as he got into the driver seat after everyone else had already been seated inside the SUV. The SUV sped off. I stood there waiting for them to get a good distance away. I flicked off my flashlight and trekked back to where Eleven was. I turned around the tree she hid behind. She was frightened at first but then relief washed over her features as she realized it was me.

“Bad men,” Eleven whimpered.

I knelt down to her, “You don’t have to worry about them. You’re safe.”

Eleven wrapped her arms around my neck as I lifted her onto my back. We made our way back to the Blazer. I opened the passenger door as Eleven crawled into the seat. The night was quiet now. All that could be heard was the snow landing softly on the snow that was already compacted tightly to the frozen ground.

I fiddled with the keys trying to get my cold fingers to cooperate. Finally, I got the engine started as the Blazer roared on. I turned the heater up as high as it could go. Elle grinned throwing her hands in front of the heater surprised.

“Not yet,” I grumbled reaching over and snapping her seatbelt over her, “It’s for your own good.”

“Chief, everything checked out at the Byer’s,” Callahan’s voice cracked over the CB radio.

“10-4,” I checked in with Callahan.

“Joyce?” Eleven muttered.

I glanced over at Eleven nodding, “Yeah, Joyce.”

Her name rolled off my tongue, flooded my head with nostalgia. I hadn’t said her name in a long time. Here I was; reminded of her all over again. All of the things we went through. I wondered if she was doing alright. She had to have been. Callahan checked on her. I still ached to know myself first hand.

Eleven started hyperventilating as my day dreaming ceased and my attention was drawn to her. I reached over touching her shoulder trying to offer her comfort.

“Go,” Eleven wept looking in the side view mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

She looked back over at me crying and trembling. The SUV behind us sped up beside our vehicle. The SUV slammed up against the Blazer. I tried to regain control of the Blazer as it slid off the side of the country road. The snowy conditions were proving this task to be quite difficult.

I veered off onto a side road just barely clipping a large tree taking off my driver side mirror. I knew these woods like the back of my hand despite the night. I could feel the tires of the Blazer slip a bit as I flipped a turn towards the lake. The headlights of the SUV glared through the back window as I squinted trying to focus on an escape route. I was running out of options for a safe escape route.

I slammed on the breaks flipping the Blazer’s steering wheel as our vehicle slid sideways. The black SUV sped past us and plunged into the frozen snow covered lake. The SUV slowly sank under slowly, out of sight. I tried to swallow this nervous lump in my throat; my chest felt tight. I fumbled with my pill bottle, trembling, my nerves were on edge. Was this going to come back and bite me in the ass? Who knew? I could feel my nerves becoming more visible. Shaking, I popped a tuinal, always been a hard pill to swallow.

I sighed to myself, “Let’s go home and get warm. I’ll deal with this tomorrow.”

“Home?” Eleven looked confused.

“Yeah, home, where I live…where I sleep,” I replied staring in the rear view mirror at the lake disappearing behind us.

“Can I have a home?”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. Her question made my heart ache.

“Yes, you can. You will,” I replied looking at her from the corner of my eye.

Eleven was safe with me. I knew there was going to be some battles to fight again. For now I wanted to enjoy this silence that graced us again. Everything started feeling alright. I got my redemption tonight.

RING RING….RING RING…

I shot up out of a dead sleep on the sofa. Eleven was sprawled out on the opposite end of the couch curled up with a blanket and one of my flannels. The phone continued to ring. I stumbled over the blanket that was half way hanging off the couch. Eleven rose up from the sofa rubbing her tired eyes.

“It’s okay, Elle. You can go back to sleep,” I mentioned.

The phone continued to ring and rattle. I grumbled under my breath as lifted the receiver to my ear. Before I even had a chance to greet the caller a small familiar voice scolded me on the other line.

“What the hell is going on Hop? Why did you send your cops over to my house?”

I was at a loss for words. I didn’t know it was Joyce. She caught me off guard and put me on the spot. My brain started racing for a valid excuse. I hadn’t seen her in a year. It has been a year since yesterday since Will’s case was closed.

“Just…haven’t seen much from you in a while.”

“Well, you know where I live Hop,” Joyce smirked.

“Ha…yeah…AH! Don’t drink that!”

“Hopper what’s going on?”

I fumbled with the phone reaching out as far as I could attempt to snatch the beer can out of Elle’s hand. Elle shot me a rebellious look. I was going to have my hands full.

“Oh, AH, I was talking to myself haha.”

“Hop, have you been getting sleep?”

“Eh, not really, I have to go. I’ll see you around Joyce,” I rushed off the phone.

Elle pouted, drawing her knees into her chest.

“You can’t have that. It’s for grow-ups,” I scolded shaking my finger.

I looked around the room and realized I needed to clean this place up. Beer cans and pill bottles strewed about as I stared around the room and back at Elle who needed cleaning up as well.

Do I even have it in me to do this again? This was not permanent. I don’t want to get attached to her. I don’t know what Elle’s fate will be. At least, for the night, we had the comforting thought of being together and safe.


End file.
